Notices by Bradley M. Kuhn (bkuhn@floss.social), page 2

Oh, are contractors as required to sign the “code of silence” (i.e., the 19 words that Open Source Initiative considers sacrosanct):
> “Disagree during Board deliberation but support publicly all Board decisions, especially those that do not have unanimous consent.”
?

I've never heard of a 501(c)(3) charity (at least in FOSS) that forbids and/or curtails employees & contractors from expressing their public policy views. It'd be new to me to learn OSI has a gag order for its contractors.

… activists who are on Open Source initiative's radar have taken & will take more political hits for questioning this status quo & saying these emperors have no clothes. By signing the petition, every single individual in #OpenSource & #FreeSoftware communities can do a tiny bit to help those of us who face the constant onslaught in the political fray. I consider it my job to take the risk, but I ask you do something tiny to help make that work a bit easier.

Thank you for your consideration.

… disagreeing publicly w/ #OSI — who has a track record of seeking political retribution — is indeed risky!
Petitions beautifully grant “safety in numbers”: widely signed petitions create “herd immunity” for signers; More signers yield more political safety for each signer.
Petitions are also an easy, effective way for relatively “unknown” individuals to support famous activists. #OpenSource Initiative likely won't bother to seek political retribution against individuals they don't know well…

Some say they're afraid to sign #OpenSource initiative Election Results petition…
https://codeberg.org/OSI-Concerns/election-results-2025
…they correctly say (paraphrased):
> “you [bkuhn] faced — & will continue to face — political retribution from #OSI . You have privilege of notoriety to endure that; I don't.”

Herein, I respond: that view assumes a zero-sum game that doesn't exist.

Thesis: each person who signs has nominally less personal political risk *&* incrementally reduces risk for each past & future signer. HMO…

Circa 1993, I came back to my dorm room & one of my college roommates was watching CSPAN (yes, I lived exclusively with other geeks 😆). I ranted:
“Congress just talks and talks & nothing gets done. They should work faster & more efficiently”

My roommate said something I'll never forget: “You don't want to live in a country where laws change quickly. Laws should change slowly & rarely.”

At the time, I didn't agree but thought he had a good point. I recently decided he was unequivocally right

I also thank @iank for volunteering to use Microsoft's proprietary Github platform on behalf of us all to accept signatures there.

It's obvious that Github has (at least right now) wider appeal than Codeberg & Ian is currently “taking one for the team” to make it convenient for people who already have a Github account to sign the petition.

I do urge everyone that if you do not have a Github account already, please *do not create one* to sign the petition. Instead, create a Codeberg account.

Dear @georgetakei
Sorry to bother you.

I spent my career working on policy issues in Free & #OpenSource software. I didn't write the code for Mastodon/fediverse, but I invented the licensing structure it uses called Affero #GPL —

its licensing ensures equal rights between companies, individuals, hobbyists, & enthusiasts.

You've been a hero of mine since I was 11 years old. I have been crying with joy for 5 minutes upon discovering you use this platform.

Thank you for everything.
🥹

I encourage everyone to please sign this petition that asks #OpenSource Initiative to release the election results for #OSI's 2025 Board of Directors Election.

3 methods available to sign:
* email <sign@osi-petition.org>
* Pull request on Codeberg: https://codeberg.org/OSI-Concerns/election-results-2025
* Pull request on Github: https://github.com/OSI-Concerns/election-results-2025

I thank @wolftune & @iank's leadership in shepherding the drafting of this petition.

OSI's work impacts everyone involved in #FOSS, so everyone is welcomed to sign.

@downey wow, that bug ticket thread re: “private mention” actually *is* in my beloved tradition of “hard to write, then it's hard to use”.
Seems developers have a data model of microblogging & they abstract DM into that data model b/c it has that neat & clean OO feeling you get when every subclass roots (& routes!😁) back to the One True Base Class.
It's mildly comforting to know every generation of programmers wants One Ring to Rule Them All…💍
…But remember how that worked out for Gollum, folks!

Fascinating. I lack Steven Coblert's Tolkien lore recall, but had this head-canon: since Gollum spied on Frodo & Sam so long, Gollum knew everything they did.

OTOH I don't remember if Gandalf told Frodo about the other rings😬

I see now my unforced error was bringing up Gollum at all, as it exposed I score poorly on Tolkien portion of Nerd Credibility test.

But I got a good joke:As a frequent #OpenSource event-goer, I am annoyed most event organizers don't seem to know about Second Breakfast.

I like that all I have to do is mention a few obscure bits of lore and can cause
@richardfontana to go off and research primary sources just to prove me wrong.

This dynamic convinces me it's time to bring back the Fontana/Kuhn debates to a micro blogging platform near you

I think some misread my first post in this thread.
I meant: while it took me a while to learn the platform, UX is smooth (on all clients I have tried, in fact) that my only complaint is “DM is ‘private mention’” thing.
I'm old school & still believe in the pithy adage: “if software was hard to write, it should be hard to use”, so having just one complaint for a large system like this seems like I live in a fantasy land…except the non-meta content then reminds me I live in a hellscape of course😬

Meta: I wasn't on fediverse/Mastodon until the 2025 #OpenSource Initiative Board Elections.

It's been a journey learning this; I haven't used microblogging (I refuse to call it “social media” , but no, I won't correct you for not using the term I prefer) since ye ol' identi.ca & status.net. (@richardfontana pointed out: many people here weren't born yet when he & I used to debate there.)

Mastodon UX is surprisingly good, but, boy “DMs/privmsg is called “private mention”” is darn confusing.

I had no idea that all we needed was @mxmehl to wave the proverbial magic wand 🪄 of Max's mastodon account and command @corbet and company to write an article:

There you go, ask and you shall receive:

https://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/1014603/ac0cfc0a74755501/

Accusing someone rejecting a Code of Conduct is sometimes career-ending for the accused. One should only make such accusations w/ great care & certainty.

I'm terrified now: #OpenSource Initiative's @ed (Executive Director), Stefano Maffulli, so-accused me & @richardfontana earlier today. This accusation is false.

I request a public apology from Stefano personally & @osi organizationally.

(Upthread clarifies facts Maffulli twisted.)

Cc: @pchestek @hackygolucky @fuzzychef
@mccoysmith
@suehle

I wish OSI's @ed would stop lying about the facts:

@richardfontana & I published signed docs showing we agreed to #OpenSource Initiative's Codes of Conduct…
https://ebb.org/docs/Kuhn-signed-board-agreement-OSI.pdf
…Maffulli purposely conflates entire Board Agreement with Codes of Conduct — so his upthread statement is a lie.

@richardfontana & I ran on a platform (in part) to reform just 19 words in the canonical Board Agreement…
https://codeberg.org/OSI-Reform-Platform/platform#item-3-remove-code-of-silence-from-board-member-agreement

We agreed to & abided by all 3 of #OSI''s Codes of Conduct.

#FOSS #FLOSS

@jwildeboer

Incorrect. Both @richardfontana and I signed a Board Agreeement with the #OpenSource Initiative and released our signed copies to the public.
https://ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/2025/03/19/a-sign-board-agreement.html
@osi proceeded to tamper with the ballots anyway.

Cc:
@larsmb @downey

Stefano Maffuli (ED of OSI),

Your argument supports #OpenSource Initiative's position on why @richardfontana and I were not appointed. It DOES NOT explain why you tampered w/ ballots to remove our names & refuse to report what the electorate recommended.

@osi was always free to to ignore the electorate; we all know #OSI elections are advisory, not binding.

Your refusal to engage in public dialogue w/ your electorate also indicates OSI's abilities in consensus building may be lacking.

Cc @ed

If you're a dues-paying Member of #OpenSource Initiative or represent an Affiliate of #OSI, please get in touch with me via:

* DM on fedi to this account
* email at bkuhn@ebb.org
* XMPP: bkuhn@sfconservancy.org,
* bkuhn on libera.chat IRC
* call/text my mobile number if you happen to have my number.

I would like to discuss what's happened with other concerned parties and make a plan on how we should organize to respond.

ICYMI:
https://floss.social/@bkuhn/114201035037997772

#FreeSoftware #FLOSS #FOSS

@ariadne wrote:
> I was going to try to meet up with
> y'all at FOSDEM

Sadly, I got COVID-19 at #FOSDEM and missed the last day (and my own keynote!).
I noticed you're replying in this thread where I was asking to chat with Affiliate Reps who had questions (since they're my constituents). If you are, I'd like to chat offline in a more in depth conversation.
Also happy to answer your questions here in public if that suits you better, I'm just very longwinded so this format is tough for me!